In commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,683 there has been disclosed a modular unit of this type whose conductor strips are formed by stamping or etching from a coherent metal foil having wing portions mounted on bosses of a metal bar acting as a heat sink, these wing portions being separated from the conductor strips in the finished module in which the resinous body also envelops the bar at its top and sides. The conductor strips form two symmetrical arrays with free ends projecting from opposite edges of the resinous body; these free ends may be bent over at right angles to the foil surface, although they could also extend in other directions (e.g. as shown in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,032,706).
The use of an embedded heat sink is not always the best solution. Thus, with power amplifiers or the like it may be desirable to establish a thermal connection between the embedded chip and an external metallic member which, being exposed to the atmosphere, dissipates the developing heat more quickly.
On the other hand, when microelectric modules of various types are to be produced in large quantities, it is convenient to use components of similar configuration regardless of whether the generated heat is to be dissipated by encased or external members.